When trading shares and/or other financial instruments in a computerized exchange, the computerized exchange is generally configured to receive trade orders to create a trade. For instance, the computerized exchange is generally configured to receive bid orders and ask orders and match the bid orders and the ask orders to create a trade. Depending on the conditions associated with the trade, the processes of matching bid and ask orders can sometimes be complex.
Current computerized exchanges normally comprise a central matching engine, typically residing within a central server, and a plurality of gateways, or distributed servers. In such computerized exchange, the typical process can be as follows: order entry messages are received by the computerized exchange, e.g. bid orders and/or ask orders, sent from client devices, e.g. trader terminals, are received via the gateways at the central server. The computerized exchange processes the order entry messages. This processing in the computerized exchange, e.g. central server, may include, among other things, performing order matching based on the received order entry messages. The order processing acknowledgement output from the central server is then typically returned to the client devices via the gateway that forwarded the transaction. The gateway may be required to perform additional processing before the acknowledgement data is returned to the client device. The central server will also disseminate the information from the order message, either in the same form as received or otherwise, to the multiple gateways which perform processing of the order entry information to generate market data output. The market data output is typically forwarded to all client devices through a variety of communication mechanisms, requiring additional processing in the gateways.
This means that a single order entry message firstly requires processing in the central server and then requires reprocessing many times over and in parallel across the various gateway servers.